Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, US, have created a
basic android modelled after Dr Albert Einstein, in order to develop and test
interaction routines designed to allow the android to interact with humans utilising
natural facial expressions and speech recognition.

Three researchers are behind the robot:

Designer: Javier Movellan

Javier Movellan, a research scientist in the Calit2-based UCSD Machine Perception
Laboratory is behind the interaction software, machine vision and personality
design work.

"In the short-term, Einstein is being used to develop computer vision
so we can see how computers perceive facial expressions and develop hardware
to visually react. This robot is a scientific instrument that we hope will
tell us something about human-robot interaction, but also human-to-human interaction.

"When a robot interacts in a way we feel is human, we can't help
but react. Developing a robot like this one teaches us how sensitive we are
to biological movement and facial expressions, and when we get it right, it's
really astonishing."

Designer: Professor Yoav Freund

Professor Yoav Freund, of Jacobs School of Engineering computer science worked
on much of the hardware, and the robot's ability to respond to audio social
cues as well as visual ones.

Designer: David Hanson

David Hanson, formerly of Disney, the robot's primary designer and owner of
Hanson Robotics, is the driving force behind its creation, and the use of robots
as social tools.

"Einstein has pretty broad conversational abilities, although not
like a human. In the demo mode, he might say something like, 'I'm an advanced
perceptual robot bringing together many technologies into a whole that's greater
than the sum of my parts, but here's what some of my parts can do. I can see
your facial expressions and mimic them. I can see your age and gender. So
why don't we demo some of these technologies?'"

"Some scientists believe strongly that very human-like robots are
so inherently creepy that people can never get over it and interact with them
normally, but these are some of the questions we're trying to address with
the Einstein robot," explains Hanson. "Does software engage people
more when you have a robot that's more aware of you? Are human-like robots
inherently creepy, and if so is that a barrier, or is it not a barrier?

"We're trying to get past the novelty of the technology to a certain
extent so that people can socially engage with the robots and get lost in
that social engagement," he continues. "And in a sense, we naturally
do that with other humans. If I have a big piece of spinach in my teeth or
I have something cosmetically atypical about me, it might be difficult to
get past those superficial barriers so that we can have a more meaningful
conversation."

Research

The Einstein robot cost $75,000 us to put together, and is being used to advance
the field in several tangible ways, not just overcome the uncanny valley perception.

Einstein's skin is a new material called Frubber, which Hanson's company has
created after researching extensively into facial anatomy, physiology, materials
science and soft-bodied mechanical engineering. It is even covered with microscopic
pores, to push into the territory of being as real as possible.

Hanson is also bringing his expertise from Disney to bear, in careful design
as to how to move with 'Disney magic', or in other words as realistically as
possible.

Movellan's facial recognition software is pushing the boundaries, using a database
of just over one million faces, and visual search algorithms coupled with a
neural network to learn and understand new faces, facial expressions and speech
patterns. Einstein is designed to learn, and adapt swiftly to a new person's
face and gestures.

Movellan's work on Einstein also includes a character engine: A development
suite designed to allow developers to craft and shape robot personalities from
a standard toolset, adjusting parameters to create the desired personality.